Rapid Fire August 7, 2012: MDA Management

The White House picked Rear Admiral James Syring to replace Army Lieutenant General Patrick O’Reilly as the head of the Missile Defense Agency. A few weeks ago a report from the Pentagon’s inspector general described O’Reilly as an irascible manager, to put it mildly. Syring is currently Program Executive Officer for Integrated Warfare Systems and will be the first sailor to head MDA, pending Senate approval.

Leon Panetta admits that a round of base realignment and closure will not be authorized this year, which he most certainly already knew when BRAC was made part of the FY13 Presidential Request.

Republicans in Congress are pushing back against the Department of Labor’s interpretation that the WARN Act does not justify sending mass notifications in anticipation of sequestration. This is no doubt keeping legal counsel busy at prime contractor HQs.

US Senators Tom Coburn [R-OK] and Joe Manchin [D-WV] introduced a bill last week to “create new incentives and enforcement mechanisms to force the Pentagon to pass an audit”: Audit the Pentagon

5 Act of 2012 [PDF]. The Senate is currently in recess until September 10 (more or less).

A laboratory at the Australian Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) is starting research to use electrochromic materials for better vehicle camouflage. The US Army Research Office worked on [PDF] a similar topic a decade ago, though their aim at the time was limited to blending in under infrared light. BAE also showcased their Adaptiv camouflage in September last year. The challenge is to provide multi-spectral camouflage (i.e. not just under infrared or regular daylight) at a low voltage.

Boeing’s work with the Johns Hopkins University on “swarm” technology for UAVs has led to successful tests back in June. Though the term suggests overwhelming quantity, recent tests were done with a modest 2 UAVs, but what they are trying to accomplish is increased coordination between the vehicles so that they are more autonomous and thus depend less on ground control.